Effective monk guide
Note: This article is intended to provide guidance for experienced characters playing new monks or experienced monks looking for additional options. If this is your first time playing ''Guild Wars, please see any of the Getting started guides.'' Being a Monk Monks are used primarily for support characters, acting to enable the rest of the party and as such you are their lifeline. Monks are usually well away from the thick of battle, but still within range of his/her teammates, ready to help them out. Playing a Monk can be a rewarding experience, or an extremely frustrating trial. The healing and protection they provide can be the difference between victory and death. But, with little or no communication and lack of focus, things can get very hard. Because Monks usually are dependent on the rest of the party for damage and defense, if your teammates don't help you out, you can't do your job. But that doesn't mean you should expect them to always adjust to you. A good monk is very adaptive and can usually (on good conditions) have enough energy to keep each teammate alive for as long as they need to. Monks however can also play a offensive role which will be noted later in the guide (a smiting monk would be a good example of this). Lack of communication, especially in Random Arena matches may generate flame wars between team members, usually between people calling the monk a incompetent healer, and the monk calling their teammates unwilling to work together by staying within the monk's healing range. This is the prime reason, along with fear of being berated by their comrades, that many players seldom roll a monk class, making successful monks the most highly revered players in the game. PvE Monks In Player versus Environment gameplay, there are very few situations which do not require a Monk. Due to their integral role and high demand, Monks rarely have trouble finding a team. Since having a Monk in your team will attract fellow players, they can easily start their own teams, as well. Most players will consider the advice and demands which a Monk makes before starting the battle. Since they spend most of their time watching the health bars of the team and the progression on the battle field, Monks are in a good position to announce tactical changes, to command moves, and call for retreats by drawing on the mini-map. Most PvE groups will be looking for two hybrid monks (healing, protection and divine) or a Healer's Boon monk with a hybrid. PvP Monks During PvP combat, communication with the rest of the team is vital for a Monk's success. Be absolutely sure to effectively communicate what is impeding your intended job ("shutting you down"), any pressures that you may be under, and frequently comment on flaws in team positioning. Teams that talk, win. More specifics on Monks behaving in PvP is discussed below. Monk Attributes Divine Favor (Primary attribute) For each rank of Divine Favor, allies are healed for 3.2 whenever you cast Monk spells on them. (For example if have rank 1 Divine Favor, a additional +3 is added to the original heal and so forth.) This gives monk spells an additional heal to further aid in keeping allies alive. Healing Prayers The bulk of a monk's healing spells. It contains many effective and unconditional heals. There are a few skills to deal with hexes and conditions. Protection Prayers Contains skills to reduce or prevent damage to allies. It has many powerful, fast-casting skills to catch spikes. Also contains the bulk of a monk's hex and condition removal skills. Smiting Prayers The damage dealing line for monks. As many of the skills deal holy damage, it is particularly effective against high-armor targets or Undead. Secondary Profession Options For an extended comparison when choosing a secondary profession, see Secondary professions for a Monk. Warrior In PvE, the Warrior as a secondary has little to offer to a monk. The Warrior skills are focused mostly on damage dealing and/or require adrenaline to use, and because a Monk's primary role in PvE is to support and keep the party alive, such skills do not fit well. In PvP, Monks are almost constantly the target of enemy attacks. A Warrior secondary allows for various defensive benefits and skills such as Shield Bash, Disciplined Stance, and Balanced Stance to counter melee based spike and pressure damage as well as knockdowns. Try to watch the other team's Warriors, and use Shield Bash and Balanced Stance right before they hit you. Ranger Monks benefit from a Ranger secondary mainly through the stances available. Stances can be used for running, energy management, blocking, and skill recharge reduction. Melandru's Resilience in conjunction with Draw Conditions can be used as a source of health and energy in arenas. Necromancer 55hp Monk farming builds will often make use of necromancer secondary for either of the Elite skills Spiteful Spirit or Spoil Victor. Mesmer Mesmer's Inspiration Magic contains a wealth of energy management skills which will ensure you have plenty of energy. Of these, Channeling, Mantra of Recall, Energy Drain, Ether Signet, Drain Enchantment, and Inspired Hex are commonly seen for a Mo/Me. A Mesmer secondary also allows for some defense against certain attacks, such as with Hex Breaker. Elementalist This is the most common secondary profession for a PvE monk because of Glyph of Lesser Energy, which can help out when using costly spells such as Aegis or Heal Party. Glyph of Renewal and Divine Spirit can provide continuous reduction of monk spell costs. With a weapon of Enchanting (20% recommended) and 10 or more points in Divine Favor, Divine Spirit can be kept up indefinitely. However, this strategy is vulnerable to enchantment removal. Assassin Monks also find the Assassin secondary useful in PvP by using skills from the Shadow Arts line to provide the Monk extra kiting abilities with skills such as Return and Dark Escape, making it fairly easy to survive dangerous situations. The cost of these is the lack of energy management from your secondary profession, but this should never be a problem for experienced monks. Ritualist As a Ritualist can play a similar role as a Monk, but doesn't benefit from Divine Favor, this combination is not frequently used. Dervish Skills like Conviction, Armor of Sanctity and Mystic Regeneration can help improve the survivability of a monk. Conviction has a long duration, low cost, and is a stance which cannot be easily removed as enchantments, which many monks rely on for defense. Fleeting Stability can also be used to prevent knockdowns, but it must be continually renewed. The Wind Prayers line also offers kiting skills such as Featherfoot Grace and additional healing skills that can affect the entire party. Paragon This combination is most useful to a Smiting Monk, and allows the enhancement of allies with a combination of smiting enchantments such as Judge's Insight, and chants such as Anthem of Flame. Monks can be seen in Jade Quarry with "Make Haste!" and "Fall Back!" to help Juggernauts or Hauler Turtles move jade quicker. However, this combination lacks solid energy management skills and is better suited to short skirmishes than to prolonged combat. Types of Monks Monks, unlike most other professions, are expected to fit into a narrow set of primary support categories. There are several predominant monk roles: *Healer *Prot *Boon prot *Bonder *Smiter *Invincible Monk – also called a 55 or Invincimonk Healing Monk ---- The Healing Monk combines inexpensive healing spells with high Divine Favor to provide fast, repetitive heals to the party. Attributes for Healing Monks Healing Monks usually focus on two attribute lines: Healing Prayers and Divine Favor. Several Healing Prayer spells provide the basic setup of the Healing Monk, while Divine Favor is mainly chosen for the additional bonus health it gives the character. Some Healing Monks choose a third attribute line, mainly one from a secondary profession that provides skills to regain energy. Suggested Strategies for Healing Monks Attempt to keep allies within your casting range, and foes outside your aggro circle - be the backline. Watch the health meters of your party, and cast healing spells when a party members health meter begins to approach 75%. It may be helpful to select party members with the mouse, and queue skills with the keyboard. Another strategy is to assign party members to Function keys or the number pad for quick selection. Signets To deal continuous heals at low cost, you can use Signets. This might come in handy, especially when you are new to monking and you find yourself out of energy all the time. Alternate with Signet of Rejuvenation or Signet of Devotion, e.g. :*Word of Healing :*Signet of Rejuvenation :*Orison of Healing :*Signet of Devotion This helps a lot with keeping your energy up, and it makes sure you are always casting something. While you aren't casting you might feel like you should be and waste your energy! Heal Party Many groups are quite large and a challenge to be tended properly. Heal Party is a popular spell that heals each party member for up to 78 points, making that well over 600 points altogether. As a healer in PvE, Heal Party should be your first choice when encountering mobs or area effects which cause widespread amounts of health drain, such as the poisoning spiders in Maguuma Jungle or the Domain of Health Draining in the Dragon's Lair. Mo/Es may try combining Heal Party with Glyph of Lesser Energy, reducing the cost of 2 Heal Party to 15 Energy every 30 seconds. Light of Deliverance can be a cheaper alternative, but other elites are often preferred. In PvP, the use of Heal Party is ambivalent. Having two seconds of casting time and a quite high energy investment, it should not be used frequently. Use it to counter massive degeneration or to restore minor wounds on the whole team in one shot. If multiple Monks are equipped with this skill, only one of them should be casting at a time, so the other one is available to cast more powerful spells on single targets. Dwayna's Kiss Dwayna's Kiss is one of the more powerful healing spells around. Its extended healing power relies on the target being buffed or hexed. It is best used to heal attuned Elementalists, enchanted Warriors and other party members enchanted by a Bonder. Heavily hexed allies are also a prime target for this healing spell, as it heals for a substantial amount more than Orison of Healing with even just one hex. Another target for this spell are Dervishes, who frequently maintain many enchantments on themselves. To increase overall effectiveness, have a Protector bring Aegis or party with a Bonder. Though Healing Breeze is disdained by many, it works quite well with Dwayna's Kiss. Healer's Boon Healer's Boon turns ordinary healing spells into fast, powerful heals at the cost of an elite. However, it allows you to keep your team alive better with more health restored and faster cast times. Combining Healer's Boon with Heal Party is a very popular (but energy intensive) strategy. Special Case: Infuser Infuse Health is a powerful healing spell in Guild Wars. However, this healing comes a heavy sacrifice of 50% of the caster's current health. Because of this, Infuse Health is most often followed with Healing Touch or another high-health skill as a self-heal. If a monk is carrying Infuse Health, it should be saved for dealing with spike damage or for allies with extremely low health. If there is time to use a general heal, it is almost always better to do so. See Infuse Monk for more detailed information. Protection Monk ---- The Protection Monk combines protection spells that prevent damage with skills that keep the party free of conditions. Unlike the Healing Monk who is reactive, Protection Monks are pro-active and don't wait until after the damage is done to heal the character - the spells are pre-applied to their teammates to prevent the damage from happening. Attributes for Protection Monks Protection Monks will mainly rely on Protection Prayers with some Divine Favor bonus, since protection spells (with a few exceptions, notably Zealous Benediction and Dismiss Condition) do not offer any healing. As with Healing Monks, a third attribute line might be used for energy reasons. Suggested Strategies for Protectors Attempt to keep allies within your casting range, and foes outside your aggro circle. Watch out for party members taking damage and use your protection skills. Unlike the Healing Monk, do not wait until they have taken considerable damage, cast your spells right at the first sign of trouble. Further tactics depend on your choice of skills and whether you play PvE or PvP: *PvE **If applicable, rely on your condition removal skills (e.g. Mend Ailment or Restore Condition) to keep the party health high. **Have an extra eye on the tanks and buff them before they aggro the next group of mobs. *PvP **Buff soft targets beforehand. Renew their buffs every once in a while if you can afford the energy costs, even when they are not the target. Most groups switch targets quickly, usually to unleash their adrenaline skills all at once. **Pay attention to opponents positioning and actions. For example, if you notice an enemy warrior moving toward a teammate, cast a skill such as Shield of Deflection, Guardian, or Reversal of Fortune to negate damage, slow adrenaline buildup, and/or disrupt an adrenaline spike. Boon Prot Boon prot Monks are monks who combine the preventive power of protection spells with the huge healing bonus of Divine Boon, essentially filling both the role of a traditional Healing Monk and Protection Monk at once. That power comes at a price, though - Boon Prot Monks run out of energy very fast and often are required to dip into the Mesmer class for energy management ability. This build has been nerfed and is now considered out-dated in PvP combat. Using the PvE-only skill Selfless Spirit can make this build viable in PvE combat. Bonder Monk The passive protection monk, or "Bonder Monk", uses maintained enchantments to provide continual protection. A specialty, the Bonder Monk does not actually cast spells during combat. Instead, Bonders cast maintained protection enchantment on party members before the battle starts and concentrate on keeping those enchantments up. Attributes for Bonder monks All Bonding Monks use a fairly standard set of skills from the Protection Prayers line, combined with the skill Balthazar's Spirit (but without any attribute points in Smiting Prayers), Life Bond and the skill Blessed Signet from Divine Favor. Additional attribute points are used for secondary profession line Inspiration Magic, which provides a few skills that help to speed up Blessed Signet, such as Mantra of Inscriptions. Frequently used elite skills for Bonder Monks are from the Protection Prayers and Divine Favor attributes and include Life Barrier, Boon Signet and Scribe's Insight. Keep in mind that many PUGs may grow impatient at having to wait on a bonder before moving on to the next area. In such cases, teammates may very well move beyond the range of your bonds. Suggested Strategies for Bonder Monks Cast your chosen bonds and stay well clear of combat. Use Blessed Signet as often as possible to prevent your energy from reaching zero. Watch your maintained bonds and the party status window for stripped enchantments and replace them as soon as possible. When you are getting a lot of additional energy through Balthazar's Spirit, cast non-maintained protection spells to help your healer. Hybrid Monk ---- This monk uses healing and protection spells to heal their party while also helping to protect them as well. This combines the efficiency of protection spells while also being able to bring people back from low health. This combination allows a hybrid monk to respond effectively to many situations. Attributes for Hybrid Monks Hybrids must dip into 3 attribute lines: healing, protection and divine favor, and sometimes even a fourth (commonly Tactics or Shadow Arts) for PvP. This style consists of 1 energy management/defense skill, 1 main heal (elite skill), 1 secondary heal to assist the main one, 2-3 prots, and the rest for condition removal, hex removal or rez (NOTE: in PvP monks do not carry a rez; an additional prot or defensive skill is used to take its place). Many players agree that the best healing elites are Word of Healing, Healer's Boon and Light of Deliverance and that they should be used above some protection elites mainly in PvE. Word of Healing Hybrid This is the most common type of hybrid because it uses the elite skill Word of Healing, a fast-recharging heal that's very useful to heal targets below 50% health. Patient Spirit can usually be found with it and is used to quickly heal targets or if Word of Healing were disabled. Many people prefer Word of Healing over other elites because of it's bonus heal if the target is below 50% health, low energy cost and fast recharge time. Healer's Boon/Boon Healer Monk Boon Healer Monks are a popular hybrid build, utilizing the Healer's Boon enchantment from Nightfall to heal the party with big heals that normally cast slowly to assist the other monk in high damage areas. This type of hybrid is very strong in areas with party-wide damage and degeneration. The build usually consists of Glyph of Lesser Energy for energy management, Heal Party for a big party-wide heal, Dwayna's Kiss for enchanted/hexed targets and Ethereal Light (or Patient Spirit as a self-heal. This type of hybrid's build is packed tightly, leaving room for 2 more skills; commonly used ones are: Seed of Life, Aegis, Guardian, Shield of Absorption, Protective Spirit, Dismiss Condition and Cure Hex. Light of Deliverance Although it doesn't pack the healing punch of a Healer's Boon hybrid, the Light of Deliverance hybrid can mitigate medium amounts of party-wide damage while still packing spot heals and protection. Its low cost means it can be used frequently, not just in critical situation. In PvP the lengthened recharge time makes it somewhat unpopular, since it doesn't relieve enough pressure party-wide. Smiting Monks ---- This monk focuses mainly on Smiting Prayers skills that damage foes, but can also take advantage of Divine Favor to give a heal to allies. They are very popular in PvE areas containing Undead creatures. In PvP they have use as a support character that has damage, debuff removal, and heals. Attributes of Smiting Monks Besides Smiting Prayers, a monk in this role has some options. It can pump Divine Favor for heals with some spells; it can spec into a secondary for energy management or defense; or it can take other monk attributes for an offense/defense hybrid. Smiting notes If you play a Smiting monk, be sure to inform your party. Having a party expect you to use healing or protection and not receiving it could cause problems or even party wipes. Smiting Monks can occasionally work well in PvP as a surprise, since they are rarely regarded as a source of aggression. Several Smiting skills can knock enemies down, which can swing the favor of a battle if it interrupts a skill or just leaves an enemy open for several free attacks. Holy damage has the advantage of ignoring armor, making it equally effective against high-armored targets. Scourge Healing and Scourge Enchantment can be very effective against enemy monks, if they are properly targeted. Equipment Armor & Runes Monks are, in a sense, the most important part of any team: No other class will contribute as much to the fall of any team by dying as monks do. That means that Monks should take the utmost care not to die. Part of that is not using superior and major runes, which carry health penalties, unless really needed. As a rule of thumb, no Monk should carry more than one superior rune, and even Monks with only minor runes are very common. Of course, runes of vigor are an exception to that rule, since they actually boost health. There is no commonly agreed on "best" Monk armor, however Survivor insignia are popular since health keeps a monk alive. The alternative is generally using Radiant insignias, as the energy boost can make a huge difference, even though it seems small. In PvP Disciple's Insignia are definatly recommended since most teambuilds utilize conditions to deal pressure. Weapons The choice of weapon is less important for Monks, since they are not the main attackers. More important than the actual damage are the upgrades (like additional health, armor and energy, or reduced casting and recharge time of skills). Note that most weapons have a requirement in attributes. High-end unique ("green") weapons come with maximum upgrades (be aware that some unique weapons don't) and are usually cheaper than similar, non-unique weapons. Enchantment-extending weapon mods are popular for many Monk builds. Take a look at Caster weapon guide for more details on weapon selection. Combat Tactics Monks have several possibilities for combat purposes. Monks choosing an offensive role are able to use Smiting Prayers to inflict damage or to boost their allies' damage. Monks choosing the healing role, which is a straightforward and popular role, are able to use a very wide range of skills to heal hurt allies, heal themselves, and do it all efficiently. Monks choosing the protection role usually require another Monk to assist with healing but protection monks have access to a number of skills handling hexes and conditions as well as preventing large amounts of damage, allowing more time for healing. As the lifeline to most of the party, monks are expected to handle most or all kinds of detrimental situations including conditions, Hexes, and AoE and spike damage. When choosing skills, it is important for monks to carry diverse skills to so that their allies can work their offensive power to a maximum. Positioning and Kiting The simplest (and at the same time hardest) way to stay alive is by not being hit. Monks don't need to be close to the enemy - they can afford to stay back behind the attackers, just in range for heals and enchantments, but out of range of enemy attacks. Allies should position themselves such that they block or slow enemy movement to the monk and keep the aggro on other allies, preferably those with higher armor or defensive skills, instead of the monk. In case an enemy still breaks through or you get targeted by ranged attacks and spells, don't hesitate to run. You are more valuable to the team running away than dead. Run away from the fight (so as to prevent getting targeted by even more enemies) and try to lose the enemy. If you are a Monk with Protection Prayers, you can also try to stay and tank, but that is risky and should only be done if you are sure of surviving. If other players on your team can support your kiting, don't hesitate to ask them for a buff, such as Guardian, Windborne Speed, or Sympathetic Visage. There are some moments though where your teammates do not want you to run, as they want to take the aggro from you, and it's much harder to do so with you running around. Team and Random Arenas Since your team is pretty small and there won't actually be a main front but more a mix of your fighters and enemy fighters, you'll have a hard time figuring out a good position. You get the best results by circling the spot where the fight takes place. Try keeping your allies within casting range all the time. If an ally slips out of your range keep your head on, watch your party very closely and make sure you know which ally is in the most troublesome situation so you can help in a moment's notice. :image:ta_circling.png Heroes' Ascent In most cases, follow similar positioning as in Team Arena. Everything else depends on the map you are playing. Especially on relic runs, keeping a good distance to your own members will be very difficult. If possible, split up the monk team so each of you covers a part of the map. The most simple mode to kite on is probably in King of the hill. The main fighting area will usually be in the middle of the map so your path will be a perfect circle. Just watch out for smart Warriors and Elementalists out to block your way. Channeling is widely used as energy management; position yourself near a group of foes to maximize energy gain from Channeling. Guild versus Guild In GvG matches, monks are most often the first targets to be attacked, and the ones who have to deal with the most pressure. Due to the high power of Dervishes and speed of Assassins, Monks need to carry skills that will help them survive, and in turn help their team survive. Common elite skills used are Blessed Light, Zealous Benediction, Divert Hexes and Word of Healing. Monks with varying elites can be employed as flag runners to secure morale boosts, using Heal Party to keep their party's health up from afar, but they are most commonly used as main Monks partnered with a Restore Condition or Divert Hexes Monk. Hex Removal Hexes are a special type of spell that affects enemies for a period of time. Some of these are minor annoyances, but some have devastating effects. Since removing hexes is time consuming and hex removing skills can not be spammed, it is important that you learn to tell harmless hexes from severe ones and only remove the latter. Affected allies can help by "calling" (CTRL + left click on the hex icon) the more harmful hexes. Remember that not all hexes should be removed lightly; certain hexes such as Phantom Pain will cause aftereffects which can often be more of a hindrance when removed in the middle of combat. Always be wary when removing hexes and ready to provide extra healing or support when you do remove a hex. Also, be aware of the hex stack which can prevent you from easily removing dangerous hexes. Some frequently used hex removal skills are: *Remove Hex - your bread and butter hex removal. Cheap, normal cast, normal recharge. *Contemplation of Purity - as a self-targeting skill, Contemplation of Purity is about keeping your Monk alive. It removes a significant amount of hexes at the cost of all your enchantments. It has an added bonus of being a skill, not a spell; this is relevant when dealing with daze or Backfire. *Holy Veil - a challenging, but powerful hex removal. It can remove hexes extremely fast, often before a cover hex can be applied, and when maintained it makes hexes cast against the target take twice as long to cast, slowing down the speed of hex application and giving opportunities for disruption. However, as a maintained enchantment, keeping many veils up or forgetting to take them down can cause energy issues. *Divert Hexes - very powerful multiple-hex-removal skill. When removing hexes it also heals and removes conditions. As it removes multiple hexes, it can target the dangerous hexes in a stack. However, the usefulness of the skill is tied to the enemy's use of hexes, possibly leaving you with a useless elite. *Deny Hexes - while it seems weaker than Remove Hex, the power of this skill comes from other recharging Divine Favor skills; with other Divine Favor skills recharging, this skill can eat through hexes. Some commonly used skills to boost Deny Hexes are Signet of Devotion and Divine Spirit. *Smite Hex - in exchange for a higher recharge than Remove Hex, this skill does armor-ignoring damage to enemies around the hexed target. *Blessed Light - compacts heal, hex removal, and condition removal into one quick-recharging spell. Overly expensive if just used as a hex removal. *Inspired Hex/Revealed Hex - twin copies of hex removal that removes and copies the targeted hex. An added bonus is that successful hex removal returns energy. In PvE, it is extra useful, as Monster skill hexes can be removed with this, giving an energy return, but not having to wait for the hex to be removed from your bar. Condition Removal Conditions are less severe than hexes in most cases, but they can be applied to enemies more frequently at a lower cost. It is especially the role of Protection Monks to keep the party free of conditions. Conditions, unlike hexes never cause a side effect upon removal unless amplified by a hex or spell. Stay cautious as you would with removing hexes and be wary of anything that would cause your teammate harm. Energy Management Energy management is crucial to a party's survival as a monk with constant energy problems may as well not be there. Three basic rules exist for managing your energy: 1) Be careful not to "over heal" or "over protect" a teammate. Learn how much your spells heal and how effective your various protection spells are. If a target is only missing 30-40 health, it is a waste of energy to heal them, as half of your spell has no effect. Similarly, putting too much protection on a single target can be overkill. If you just used Shield of Deflection on a party member, Guardian would have little effect on them. 2) In PvE try to take breaks between fights to regain your lost energy. Most groups are quite willing to wait for you to regenerate. Call out your energy (using Ctrl + click on your energy bar) to indicate that you need to wait for regeneration. But it is also crucial that you try to bring a skill or have an ally bring a skill that can help you regenerate energy in case of an emergency. 3) Use the right spells for the situation. Healing Breeze is perfect when a party member is dealing with minor damage over time, but it becomes a liability (and waste of energy) if enchantment shatterers are nearby. Bonding Monks have a very unique energy management situation as they are constantly losing energy to support their many maintained enchantments. Close attention will have to be paid towards the recharge cycle of Blessed Signet and the limited energy that can be spent on other spells such as condition removers. Resurrecting Some very few special cases apart, it is not a reasonable thing for Monks to resurrect team mates during battle. Monks should be carrying a resurrection spell for the worst case (PvP is an exception here), but only use it after the battle. If the fight goes really wrong, run away and wait for the enemy to scatter before resurrecting. Resurrecting takes a long amount of time, so if a monk resurrects during battle, usually other team members will die before the spell is finished. However, Healer's Boon and Holy Haste can be used to drastically reduce the casting time of resurrection spells in the healing line, and with a staff, wand, or offhand providing 20% half casting time of healing spells, you can occasionally further reduce the casting time of resurrection spells. Glyph of Sacrifice is another option if you can spare the skill slot and the 5 energy to activate it. Unyielding Aura is a very useful resurrection skill and can resurrect two allies very quickly. It also increases your healing capabilities similar to Healer's Boon. It can also be used during battle. Team Tactics Two Monk Backline Generally teams in Guild battles and Heroes' Ascent bring two Monks. Often one monk will specialize in healing while the other specializes in protection. An example grouping for Heroes' Ascent is a Healer's Boon infuser paired with a Restore Condition monk. Three Monk Backline With the return of Heroes Ascent to 8 player teams, 3 Monk backlines are once again becoming viable. Two monks will generally run Healing and/or Protection with a third monk filling a utility role such as Light of Deliverance healer, Hex Remover, or Bonder. Where there are three Monks in a guild battle, often the third is dedicated to running the flag and is equipped with Heal Party or Light of Deliverance along with running skills and other basic healing spells to help when the stand is controlled. Third monks can also function as a Smiting monk on GvG teams. On occasion, split teams will assign the third Monk to assist a "ganking" team in their attempt to destroy NPCs in the opposing teams base. General Tactics Monks should generally stay within the back-line of their parties formation, but should always be prepared to push up to heal the front-line characters when a big push is happening (a good, tight formation makes it easier to catch spikes or heal the front-line). Generally, Monks should play a defensive game, allowing their team's melee to wreak havoc on the opposing team's back-line. Communication between the party is key. Let the rest of your team know what is a threat to you (i.e. a Mesmer is shutting you down), and let your party know when it's time to play defensively or offensively (generally this is when you start to run low on energy). Whenever a party member pushes too far forward (this is called "over-extending" and is generally done by melee characters) let them know they are too far up and in danger (experienced melee players can, under the right circumstances, over-extend and get back in range before it becomes a problem). Always watch the other teams front-line. Watch who they go for and use protection skills such as Protective Spirit, Spirit Bond, Shielding Hands and Shield of Absorption on the target you see them running at. This is commonly called "pre-protting" and plays a major role in good monking (i.e. keeping your team alive). If there is an over extended character or Frenzied warrior in your back-line, tell your team to kill it. In these situations it helps if the mid-line falls back and body blocks the over-extended enemy so it can't run back to its back-line. Self-awareness is extremely important. Self-awareness includes knowing which skills to use when, on what characters and against what, which skills combine well together (this is something to consider both when you put together your build and when you are using it), how to manage your energy and what to do if it runs low, your positioning within the formation, and when to avoid the other team's melee (this is called "kiting"). Unless the situation specifically requires it, try to avoid splitting your two main monks unless the build is designed for it. Having one monk against more than four opposing people can often lead to disaster. This tactic should only be used in dire situations or when it is a tactical advantage (for instance if you face a spike team splitting them up will generally greatly reduce their damage output). Prioritize your team mates and skill usage. Know that blind on a Mesmer is not as important as blind on a Warrior/Assassin/Dervish/Paragon. Try to prioritize your hex or condition removals to the people that need it the most (for instance, don't bother removing Blurred Vision from a Mesmer). Communication is key in knowing what needs to be removed and what doesn't need to be removed. See also * Heal efficiency — A collection of efficiency calculations. Category: Profession guides